List of historical aircraft of the Indian Air Force

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Indian Air Force is one of the three constituents of the Indian Armed Forces.[1] It was established in 1932.[2]

The Air Force operates a combination of combat, reconnaissance, transport aircraft, and helicopters.[3] The early fleet consisted majorly of imported planes while HAL designed and built some aircraft locally. HAL was involved in license production of some of the foreign aircraft in India.[4]

Aircraft

More information Name, Origin ...
Name Origin Primary
role(s)		 Introduced Retired Count Notes
Introduced into service before 1947
Westland Wapiti United Kingdom Liaison 1933 1942 28 [5]
Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta United Kingdom Transport 1941 1944 5
Avro Anson I United Kingdom Basic trainer 1942 1945 7 [6]
Boulton Paul Defiant TT.III United Kingdom Target tug 1944 1945 ?
Bristol Blenheim I United Kingdom Bomber 1941 1942 5
de Havilland D.H.86B United Kingdom Transport 1940 1942 2
de Havilland Dragon Rapide United Kingdom Transport 1941 1945 4
de Havilland Tiger MothUnited KingdomBasic trainer19391957192
Douglas DakotaUnited StatesTransport19441987206
Fairchild PT-19United StatesBasic trainer1943194640[7][8]
Harlow PC-5A United States Transport 1941 1942 4
Hawker Audax United Kingdom Liaison 1939 1945 7
Hawker Hart United Kingdom Bomber 1939 1942 7
Hawker Hind United Kingdom Bomber 1939 1941 6
Hawker Hurricane United Kingdom Fighter-bomber 1942 1945 ?
North American Harvard Mk.II and 4CanadaBasic trainer19421973?
Supermarine Spitfire Vc & VIIIcUnited KingdomFighter/Reconnaissance1943194819[9]
Vickers Valentia United Kingdom Transport 1942 1944 1
Vultee Vengeance United States Bomber 1942 1945 35 [10]
Westland Lysander II United Kingdom Liaison 1941 1943 25 [11]
Westland Lysander III.T United Kingdom Target tug 1941 1942 48 [11]
Airspeed OxfordUnited KingdomTransport194619495
Auster AOP.6United KingdomLiaison1946197020
Hawker Tempest II United Kingdom Fighter 1945 1955 235 [12]
Supermarine Spitfire FR.XIVE & FR.XVIII United Kingdom Fighter/Reconnaissance 1945 1957 120 [9]
Introduced into service between 1947 and 1970
Aero Ae-45CzechoslovakiaTransport195519571
Antonov An-12Soviet UnionTransport1961199365
Auster AOP.9United KingdomLiaison1955198135
Bell 47G-2United StatesHelicopter1957197915
Consolidated B-24J LiberatorUnited StatesBomber1948196745[a][13]
Dassault MD. 450B OuraganFranceFighter-bomber19531967104[b][14]
Dassault Mystère MD.454 IVAFranceFighter-bomber19571973104
de Havilland Canada DHC-3 OtterCanadaTransport1956199836
de Havilland Canada DHC-4 CaribouCanadaTransport1963199126[15]
de Havilland DevonUnited KingdomTransport1947199122
de Havilland Vampire F.3United KingdomFighter194819553
de Havilland Vampire FB.52United KingdomFighter-bomber19501974286[c]
de Havilland Vampire NF.10United KingdomFighter1953195530
de Havilland Vampire NF.54United KingdomFighter1953196630
de Havilland Vampire PR.55United KingdomReconnaissance195419655[d]
de Havilland Vampire T.11United KingdomBasic trainer1963?7
de Havilland Vampire T.55United KingdomBasic trainer19531982124[e]
English Electric Canberra B(I).58/B(I).66United KingdomBomber/Reconnaissance19572007150[16]
Fairchild C-119G Flying BoxcarUnited StatesTransport1953198489
Folland Fo.141 Gnat F.1United KingdomFighter19581978?[f]
HAL HF-24 Marut Mk.1IndiaFighter-bomber19611985147[17]
HAL HT-2IndiaBasic trainer19531998169
Hawker Hunter FGA.56AUnited KingdomFighter-bomber19571996167
Hawker Hunter T.66United KingdomBasic trainer1959199240
Ilyushin Il-14Soviet UnionTransport1955198129
Lockheed Super ConstellationUnited StatesTransport196119819
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21F-13/FL/PFM/M/bis/BisonSoviet UnionFighter19642025872[18][19][20][21]
Mil Mi-4Soviet UnionHelicopter19601988121
North American T-6G TexanUnited StatesBasic trainer1973?
Percival Prentice T.3United KingdomBasic trainer1947196362[g]
Sikorsky S-55United StatesHelicopter195419668[h]
Sikorsky S-62BUnited StatesHelicopter196019792
Supermarine Spitfire PR.XI & XIXUnited KingdomReconnaissance1947195915[9]
Supermarine Spitfire T.IXUnited KingdomBasic trainer1947195510
Vickers ViscountUnited KingdomTransport195519712
HAL KrishakIndiaLiaison1965198868
HAL PushpakIndiaBasic trainer1965196725
Hawker Hunter F. Mk.56United KingdomFighter1966199255
Sukhoi Su-7BMK/BKLSoviet UnionFighter-bomber19681986140[22]
Tupolev Tu-124Soviet UnionTransport196619813
Introduced into service after 1971
HAL Ajeet Mk.1IndiaFighter1977199189[i]
HAL HPT-32 DeepakIndiaPrimary trainer19842009144[23]
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23UB Soviet Union Conversion trainer 1980 2019 15 [24]
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23BNSoviet UnionFighter-bomber1981200995[25]
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23MFSoviet UnionFighter1982200740
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25RBK/RUSoviet UnionReconnaissance1981200610[j][26]
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27MLSoviet UnionFighter19852019165[27]
PZL TS-11 Iskra bis-DPolandBasic trainer1975200476[k][28]
SEPECAT Jaguar IS GR.1United Kingdom/FranceGround attack1979198416[l]
Sukhoi Su-30K Russia Multirole 1996 2007 18 [m][29]
Close

Gallery

See also

Notes

  1. [a]
    Ex-RAF World War Two lend-lease bombers refurbished by HAL
  2. [b]
    Target tug from 1965, retired in 1967
  3. [c]
    247 built under licence by HAL
  4. [d]
    PR.55 were T.55s converted to photo reconnaissance
  5. [e]
    60 T.55s built under licence by HAL
  6. [f]
    Licence built by HAL
  7. [g]
    Includes 42 built by HAL
  8. [h]
    Might have been used till 1968
  9. [i]
    Improved Folland Gnat, includes 10 upgraded Gnats
  10. [j]
    6 MiG-25RBK and 2 MiG-25RU
  11. [k]
    26 aircraft bought in the 1990s
  12. [l]
    Other variants still operational
  13. [m]
    Initial production batch, replaced with equivalent numer of Su-30MKI's. 12 sold to Angola in 2016 and 2019, Six sold to Ethiopia in 2024 following refurbishment in Belarus.

References

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